antipoaching operations in detail; in
the later one, they address them only
fleetingly. Most notably, there is no
mention in "Secrets of the Savannà' of
the ABC documentary, or the contro-
versy and police investigation that fol-
lowed. Instead, the Owenses blame
their departure on corrupt officials
who were intent on stopping their anti-
poaching activities and seizing their
. ,
project s assets.
In one scene, theywrite of an infor-
mant identified as 'Talky," who came
to camp to give Mark dire news. "Sir,
you and Dr. Delia are in very much
danger," he said. "You can be put in
prison or even killed anytime." Talky
said that two Zambian officials, Banda
Famwila and Romance Musangu,
were working to push them out of
Zambia. (The names Musangu and
Famwila, the Owenses said, are pseu-
donyms.) The Owenses explained that
"high -level officials in Lusaka were
upset because the project had shut
down poaching and they could no lon-
ger get ivory or game meat from North
Luangwa. Working through Banda
Famwila, the Parks regional field com-
mander in Mpika, they were planning
to put an end to the project one way or
h "
anot er.
A few days later, the Owenses
wrote, they left Zambia for America.
While in the U.S., they learned that
their project and its assets had been
60 THE NEW YORKER, APRIL 5, 2010
''Because I care, Sam, have a salad"
. .
seized by the government. An Ameri-
can Embassy document indicates that
officials warned them to stay out of
Zambia until the homicide investiga-
tion was complete, but the Owenses
reported, "The U.S. ambassador ad-
vised us that since the people who or-
chestrated the illegal action were still
in powerful positions, it would not be
safe for us to return to Zambia." They
go on, "It seemed that the ivory deal-
ers had finally succeeded in closing
down the project." Alexandra Fuller,
in her article for National Geographic,
suggested that they had many enemies
there. "Mention the Owenses' names
in certain circles in Zambia, and you
will be likely to hear the rumors that
have grown up around them, fueled by
a misunderstanding of their work, by a
provincial mistrust of foreigners, and
by a barely concealed envy of their
well-funded projects."
The Owenses told me that officials
associated with a conservation project
called ADMADE engaged in a conspir-
acy to shut down the North Luangwa
project. The former director of opera-
tions of Zambia's Anti-Corruption
Commission, Paul Russell, told me
that Mark Owens provided informa-
tion to his commission about institu-
tional malfeasance, and Russell claimed
that U.S.A.I.D. had stopped fund-
ing ADMADE in 1996. But officials at
U.S.A.I.D., the World Wildlife Fund,
and the Wildlife Conservation Soci-
ety, all of which had been connected to
the program, offered no information
about ADMADE, which ended in 2000.
Russell told me he could say nothing
more about the matter, because as a
former government employee he was
subject to a confidentiality agreement.
He wrote about the Owenses, in an
e-mail to Alexandra Fuller, "It is true
that they were not very popular. The
wildlife scene in Zambia had for ages
been the sole preserve of a number of
white farmers who 'knew' how to
tackle the problem." He wrote that
he had encountered opposition when
he tried to instill new ideas. "The
same thing happened to Mark and
Delia," he added. "Their style was
differen t: better planned, methodical
and strategic." Russell also wrote that
the Owenses had donated a Toyota
Land Cruiser to the Anti-Corruption
Commission.
At the end of "Secrets of the Sa-
vanna," the Owenses told of discovering
another new wilderness: Boundary
County, Idaho, where they would settle
after their departure from Zambia. In
the book, Mark wrote, "I am falling in
love with this new land, bewitched by its
marshes, moose, mosses, mushrooms
and moons. . . . A wolf's long, mournful
song rises from the larches at the base of
the mountains and soars across the val-
ley. It is alone. I pause to savor the